PEORIA — Caterpillar Inc. plans to cooperate with a U.S. Senate investigative panel looking into whether the company may have improperly avoided U.S. taxes by moving profits outside the country.

The hearing will be in early April, according to a previous Bloomberg report.

“Caterpillar has been asked and has agreed to voluntarily testify before the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations related to our business operations,” said Rachel Potts, a spokeswoman for Caterpillar, in a statement released Monday.

“The PSI inquiry is focusing on how our international business operations may impact the U.S. taxes paid by Caterpillar. We’ve committed significant resources and time to cooperating with the subcommittee and answering its questions in order to help the subcommittee understand Caterpillar’s business.

“Caterpillar maintains a large manufacturing and distribution footprint in the United States and around the world. We are a leading U.S. exporter and pay U.S. income tax on sales in the United States as well as on export sales. Caterpillar’s effective tax rate averages about 29 percent, which is relatively high for a company with substantial earnings generated from business activities outside the United States.

“We look forward to a meaningful and respectful conversation with the senators. We hope our input will help Congress understand how a major employer and U.S. exporter conducts business and serves customers around the world.”

In 2013, Caterpillar reported earning 62.2 percent of its income overseas. The company had sales of $55.6 billion last year.

Daniel Schlicksup, a Caterpillar employee who had worked on the company’s tax strategy, alleged in a 2009 lawsuit in federal court that profits had been shifted to offshore companies, avoiding more than $2 billion in U.S. taxes.

Schlicksup’s lawsuit, which also alleged that Caterpillar retaliated against him, was settled in 2012.

The Senate subcommittee has previously looked into tax avoidance by other multinational companies such as Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard.

Steve Tarter is Journal Star business editor. He can be reached at 686-3260 or starter@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveTarter.